I’ve heard that online marketing for accountants is very difficult and it is hard to get your message across in a marketplace where the cheapest provider of tax services often shouts the loudest. One way to showcase your business is to be aware of your online reputation and work to strengthen it.

Reputation management will enable your business to achieve success beyond word-of-mouth marketing and help you win new business from a simple Google search. Below are some tips on how to manage your online reputation and find online marketing success.

1. Read online reviews. Not just of yourself, but of your competitors, too. Check out Yelp.com, AngiesList.com, and Citysearch.com to see what your customers are saying about you. Are the reviews positive? Great, you know you’re on the right track in providing excellent service to your clients. And if you see any negative reviews, use them as an opportunity to better yourself in a particular area. Reply to the negative reviews (some sites allow you to do this privately, which is always preferred, or you can do it publicly) and respond directly to the negative feedback. Work with the customer to get them to give you another chance to make it right. Even if you’re not given the chance, demonstrating your willingness to face the problem head-on will give you credibility in the online world.

2. Ask clients to give you an online review. To ensure that there are more positive reviews than negative, ask your clients to review your services online. But, don’t proactively offer this option to every single client; rather, ask those with whom you’ve developed a great rapport and who was really happy with your work. The positive reviews will attract new clients.

3. Network via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Start a Facebook page just for your business and use it to engage with your clients. Offer incentives to your clients, like early bird discounts during tax season, and deals if you’re retained for multiple projects. Social media management services are also available to help busy professionals. To prevent your clients from learning too much about your personal life, be sure to set your personal Facebook account settings to private.

4. Start an accounting blog. Use this as an opportunity to educate your audience and gain new clients. Corporate reputation management experts have been using blog marketing to help clients spread their message and build a loyal following. Offer troubleshooting tips, from how to file your taxes to taking advantage of deductions and credit available to the small business owner to how to set up your payroll system. Don’t give away all your secrets, but give enough information to make yourself stand out as a credible industry expert.

5. Hire an online reputation management firm. When in doubt, ask for expert help. A top-rated online reputation management firm can help you push positive mentions of you to the first page of a Google search, while burying any negative mentions.

With 71 million unique monthly visitors, Yelp is one of the most popular consumer review sites on the planet. The site engages users with social media-type incentives, including badges and friend/follower functions. They also allow businesses the ability to offer incentives for users who use Yelp to check-in when they arrive in person. They want to hear about every positive and/or negative experience a Yelper has in order to paint a complete picture of a particular business.

“Drill baby, drill!” might be a rallying cry at the Republican National Convention, but you’ll never hear it chanted in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. That is why dentists need reputation management. At a certain point in your career as a dentist, you’ve probably realized that people are scared of those medieval tools that you stick into our mouth. But we suck it up for a twice yearly visit in the hope of still having teeth when we’re living in a retirement community in South Florida.

Being a caring and sensitive dentist will not only get you repeat business, but will get you talked about in person and online. Of course, if you act like Steve Martin in “Little Shop of Horrors”, people will also be talking about you, but we’re going to focus on the superstars — not the sadists. With this knowledge, you have to take the good with the bad and acknowledge that patients will not only praise your excellent staff and cheerful waiting room, but they’ll also discuss your “off” days as well. Managing your online reputation and what your patients are saying about you is essential to growing your business and attracting new patients.

Below are some tips on managing your personal and professional online identities to enhance your business and reputation. [Read more…]

Psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists and other mental health professionals may be used to helping others, but when it comes to online reputation management, they often need a little help, too. If you work with patients who show signs of manipulation, anger, or issues controlling their emotions, you need to worry about the patient (or former patient) spreading negative or untrue things about you online. You also need to be especially protective over your online personal privacy to ensure your patients don’t find out your home address or details about your family life.

Protecting yourself and your practice is a priority for every psychologist and mental health professional. So take a seat on my couch, take a deep cleansing breath and get ready for some tips on reputation management and privacy.

1. Ensure your online personal life is locked up: Some psychologists shy away from using social media, like Facebook and Twitter, for fear that their patients will access their personal data. But don’t let that fear keep you from connecting with family and friends. See my recent post on how to how to change your Facebook privacy settings. Implement a policy on “friending” patients, so that in the event that a patient asks you why you’re declining their friend request, you have a ready-made answer that will not breach that “third wall” critical to the doctor-patient relationship.

2. Monitor your name online: Just as your patients take time to meet with you each week, block off some time in your calendar to Google yourself. This way you’ll find out which of your patients is using sites like HealthGrades.com or RateMDs.com, which allow patients to write a review of your services.

3. Buy your own domain name and blog: Capture your domain before someone else does. There are a number of free downloads such as WordPress or Blogger that you can use to help you build your own website, without having any serious computer knowledge. Create your website to showcase your practice areas and education. It’s another way to gain new patients and referrals. Also, consider starting a blog on your website. You can choose to write about your practice area, new research (by yourself or colleagues), and new therapy techniques. If you’re ever stuck for content, you can write a series of “quick tips” for patients regarding stress reduction, what to do when dealing with a crisis, or how to deal with a break-up. These topics will help generate traffic to your site, and ultimately may lead to new patients boost your online reputation.

4. Hire the best online reputation management firm: An online reputation management company will elevate positive content and minimize the impact of any negative reviews, blogs or news articles. Select a U.S.-based online reputation management firm and make sure your services agreement includes strict confidentiality provisions. Since ethics surrounding psychologist marketing and advertising vary from state to state, you will want to make sure any web postings include any required disclosures.